Tech
Sony's Digital Transformation Could Kill the Secondhand Games Market
- Experts discuss the end of retailing.
- Analysts warn that this move could seriously shrink the second-hand gaming market, which is worth $7.2 billion.
- According to Dataintelo data, the second-hand game market, which reached a size of 7.2 billion dollars in 2025, was predicted to increase to 13.8 billion dollars by 2034.
PlayStation's decision to stop disc production in 2028 threatens the $7.2 billion second-hand game market. Experts discuss the end of retailing. PlayStation's decision to completely end physical disc production by 2028 brings with it a significant change in the gaming world.
Analysts warn that this move could seriously shrink the second-hand gaming market, which is worth $7.2 billion. According to Dataintelo data, the second-hand game market, which reached a size of 7.2 billion dollars in 2025, was predicted to increase to 13.8 billion dollars by 2034. But Sony's digital-focused strategy could completely change these growth prospects.
Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities states that traditional gaming retailing will come to an end as physical sales decline. Pachter emphasizes that at least one-third of the games sold are second-hand and that these sales also provide resources for new game purchases. Kazunori Ito from Morningstar states that Sony's digitalization process will completely destroy the second-hand market over time.
Experts state that this transition has already been completed on the PC side with platforms such as Steam, Epic and GOG, and remind that Xbox is also working on a similar digitalization process. Xbox's testing of new features to digitize physical collections shows that the overall trend in the industry is moving away from physical media. Experts argue that there is a big difference between players seeing digitalization as a value and being forced to digitalize by taking this option away from them.
The withdrawal of physical discs from the market will prevent new games from entering the second-hand market, causing existing stocks to become obsolete. This can negatively impact game accessibility by limiting the options of collectors and players looking for affordable games. This decision by Sony seems to have long-term consequences for the entire player base, whether they are interested in physical games or not.
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Source: ShiftDelete